THE HOME OFFICE

Southland Times, Issue 20641, 13 November 1928, Page 13

THE HOME OFFICE

CORA’S CAKE. “Catherine", Invercargill, sends this recipe. 41b flour, 3oz. castor sugar, 3oz plain chocolate, 2oz raisins, 4oz butter, 2 eggs, few sweet almonds, little milk, and enough carbonate of soda to cover a shilling. Stone the raisins and halve them. Grate and melt the chocolate over boiling waler. Cream, butter, and sugar. Add the wellbeaten yolks of eggs and the melted chocolate. Mix very thoroughly, adding the raisins and the flour, add gradually the stiffly-whipped whites of eggs and about two tablespoonfuls of lukewarm milk, with the soda dissolved in it. Turn into a wellbuttered tin and bake in a moderate oven for about three-quarters to one hour. Blanch a few almonds, and when the cake is half-done place the almonds on it. SAVOURY RICE. “R.H., ’’ Arrowtown sends this recipe in answer to “A.F.A.” Invercargill. 41b rice, loz butter, 2 tomatoes or sauce, 1 tablespoon grated cheese, salt pepper. Wash the rice well, throw into boiling water, boil with cover off for 20 minutes. Dry and fry in butter until light brown. Stir into it the tomatoes, toasted and sliced, add cheese and season well. Serve hot with grated cheese sprinkled over. TROUT A L’AURORE. Try it. After boiling a couple of moderate sized fish, take them up carefully, and drain thoroughly; then dish them, and pour over them the following sauce:—Half a pint of melted butler, mixed with loz. of grated cheese, the yokes of 3 raw eggs, a few drops of cayenne or chili vinegar and a little anchovy essence thickened in the usual way. Have ready 3 hardboiled eggs, mince them and mix with them loz. of grated cheese (Parmesan is best); sprinkle over the sauce, and set the dish in the oven to heat through, then brown the surface with a salamander. Before serving, pour round the fish, a sauce of a contrasting colour to that poured over, —shrimps, tomato, or lobster may be used. —Editor, Home Office. PASSION FRUIT CREAM. This delicious recipe was sent in by “Beatrice,” Gore. Have ready 2 cups water, 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon plain flour, the juice of 1 lemon and half of the rind (grated), 3 dessertspoons gelatine, and 4 passionfruit. Place water, sugar lemon, rind and juice in a saucepan, make flour into a smooth paste with a little water, add it to other ingredients, mix well then add gelatine. Bring to boil, and boil for 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Remove from gas, and when cold but not set, beat with egg whisk until stiff and frothy, or until a little of the passionfruit stays on top. Stir gently after adding passion pulp to prevent breaking the yellow off seeds. Place in wet monlds and allow to set from 4 to 6 hours, or longer if preferred. Serve with jelly and cream or stewed fruits and custard. SALAD DAYS. A well-made salad is a delight and it should make its appearance at least once a day in every household. But a salad means more than just washing a few lettuces and putting them on a plate—it means creating a truly tempting and delicious dish, an almost perfect food. Almost any vegetable, either cooked or uncooked, can be used—hard boiled eggs, fish, meat, cheese, nuts, fruit etc., ,can all take a part in the making of a salad. It is not necessary to choose expensive ingredients; in fact, a salad offers an exceptional opportunity for the utilization of left-overs. Neither is it necessary to follow a stereotyped recipe; a recipe can only be suggestive, and it should be used to give one ideas. Green salad plants should be young and fresh; they should be separated from the roots, washed in plenty of cold water, and then rinsed. If necessary, they may be soaked in cold water to make them crisp, then dried in a towel or by shaking them in a salad basket.

COLD STUFFED VEAL. Sent in by “8.C., ’’ Invercargill. Two or three pounds of small veal—loin or leg—makes a nice little dish. Simmer the veal an hour or so in enough water to cover, with a little chopped onion and carrot and a seasoning of pepper and salt. Lift out and when a little cool, take the meat off the bones as much in one piece as you can and spread on it a thin layer of nice “stuffing” made savoury with some chopped lean ham (or bacon) and a little very finely-chopped lemon-rind. Roll up neatly, lie with tape, roll in buttered paper and then in a floured cloth and simmer it an hour and a half in its broth—with the bones round it—then put to press between two plates with a light weight on top and do not untie until cold and set. Have ready a cupful of the broth boiled until well reduced; brush the meat with this to glaze it as soon as the veal is untied. SPAGHETTI AND PEANUT SCALLOPS. Sent in by “A. 5. Gore. Chop 3oz of cooked spaghetti finely. Shell the peanuts, which should weigh 4oz after shelling, roast them in the oven for a few minutes, remove the brown skin and chop them finely, or put them through a mincer and add them to the spaghetti. Stir in two tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Put the mixture into greased scallop shells, sprinkle it with bread crumbs, put a few pieces of butter here and there over the top, and bake in a moderate oven till nicely browned. RECIPE FOR PICKLED ONIONS. Sent in by “A.K.8.,” Branxholme, in answer to “Noelene,” Invercargill. Skin the onions, fill the jars, and cover with salt and waler in the proportion of 1 tablespoonful of salt, to a pint of water. Let them stand for 3 days to draw out the unpleasant odour. Boil together 1 quart of vinegar, {lb. of whole ginger, and {lb. of allspice for five minutes. Draw aside and allow to cool to the warmth of new milk. Pour water off onions, fill up with vinegar, and cork tightly. The onions wil be ready for use in 10 days, and will keep for three months. GATEAU OF PRUNES. Sent in by “R.M.” Wyndham. Take the juice of 2 lemons, {lb prunes, 1 pint water. 3 dessertspoons sugar, 2 dessertspoons gelatine. Wash the prunes, then cook with the sugar and water till they are soft. Stone them, and put them back in the pan. Add the rind and juice of the lemons, the gelatine, and a few drops of cochineal, and boil all from 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse out a mould with cold water, and pour in the mixture and leave it till it is set. Turn into a glass dish and serve with whipped cream. WHEN WASHING GLOVES. With the approach of sunny days light gloves make their appearance, and if washed correctly will look quite as nice as when put through petrol. Chamois leather gloves should not be washed on the hand. They should be washed gently between the hands, squeezing and kneading and working the soapy lather into the leather. In this way the dirt rolls out instead of being rubbed out, as when the gloves are washed on the hands. Finger tips and palms get more soiled than the other parts, and therefore should be gently scrubbed with a nail brush. When the gloves are quite clean they should be squeezed again in clean soapy water, with a trace of olive oil in it. Wrap the gloves in a towel, squeeze out as much water as possible, remove and blow out the fingers. Do not dry the gloves in the direct sun, nor yet by fierce artificial heat. This would harden the leather. It is wise to remember that though white gloves may be dried out of doors, yellow ones are better dried indoors, as the light takes the colour out of them. Gloves of washable suede or kid should be washed upon the hands and rinsed in tepid water free from soap. They must be placed upon the hands before they are quite dry, and stretched and nulled into shape and suppleness.

PICKLING ONIONS. Sent in by “A.K.8.," Branxholme, in answer to “Noelene,” Invercargill. Take 21bs. of pickling onions, 1 quart of white vinegar, 1 dessert-spoon of peppereorns, a few chillies, and a little salt: Peel onions and wash chillies, put into a saucepan, add salt and vinegar. Tie peppercorns into a clean piece of muslin, and add to ingredients. Boil all for about three minutes; then remove peppercorns. When cold, bottle and cork tightly. This pickle is ready for immediate use. BANANA TART. Sent in by “R.M.", Wyndham. Six bananas, 1 lemon, 1 cup of milk, some flavoured syrup, 2 eggs, 4 cup of cream, puff pastry, or light short pastry. Rub the bananas through a sieve and mix with the syrup flavoured with the grated rind and juice of the lemdn. Beat 2 eggs, add the milk and cream, and stir in the bananas. Line a dish with the puff paste, pour in the mixture, and bake in a moderate oven. One tablespoon of sugar and two of water boiled together will make the syrup. RICE AND EGGS. Sent in by “A.H.” Arrowtown in answer to “A.F.A.” Invercargill. 6 poached eggs, 41b rice, IJozs butter, salt and pepper. Wash rice well and throw into 1 quart of boiling water, add 1 teaspoon salt. Boil 8 minutes; then drain. Pour cold water over and drain again. Return to pan and steam over slow fire for a f hour. Then mix butter with it; also salt and pepper, turn on to hot dish and place poached eggs on top. WAYS WITH PRUNES. Always soak all prunes overnight in sufficient water to cover them. Next day the same waler —no more—and about half a cupful of sugar to a pound of prunes, and simmer very slowly until tender. The French cooks always add a gill of claret about half-way through the cooking period, as they find this takes away the slightly sickly taste often associated with prunes, and they also lay stress on a vanilla pod broken in half and cooked and served with the fruit. A very little vanilla essence stirred in at the last will give something of the same effect, and if the prunes are served with whipped cream and just a little juice they will be found delicious. The great mistake is to submerge them in a thin watery syrup. If the fruit is at all small or dry the following hint is most excellent: “Soak one pound of prunes in one pint of cold water, adding two tablespoonfuls of golden syrup and the very finely shredded rind of half a lemon. Leave them to soak for 24 hours, and then stew them gently in this liquid." Served with a rich, boiled custard or cream of sago or rice, well stewed prunes are delicious. —Editor Home Office. LAUNDRY LORE. When washing a white silk blouse or jumper to which you want to give a little stiffness, add a few lumps of sugar to the rinsing water, roll tightly in a clean towel and iron while still damp. If a little salt is added to the blue water when clothes are being blued, it will help to distribute the colour evenly and prevent patches. A wringer should always be unscrewed after use, in order to take the weight off the rollers. Two little wedges of wood can be placed between and so allow the air to pass through. Chocolate or cocoa stains can generally be removed from clothes if they are first washed in cold water, then have plenty of boiling water poured over them.

Tortoise-shell, as it comes to market from the West Indies, is coarse, dirty, and lustreless. Only skilful and patient manipulation makes it the rich and beautiful material it eventually becomes